


Read To Me

by griseldalafey



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Rumbelle Showdown 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 16:44:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3817639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/griseldalafey/pseuds/griseldalafey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Recovering from surgery, Rumford Gold agrees to record audiobooks. Said audiobooks go straight to a certain librarian’s heart.<br/>(First round entry)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Read To Me

**Author's Note:**

> This was my entry for the first round and I used a fourth prompt for it issued by little-inkstone. Thank you for the lovely idea!  
> The prompts were: once, hospital and secret pen pals.

Three weeks. Resignedly, Rumford Gold looked around the sterile white room at Storybrooke’s hospital from the bed he was lying in. All things considered, the surgery had been a success and the steady supply of pain medication he received daily ensured that the recovery was at least bearable. Nevertheless he scowled at the useless limb, carefully bandaged and propped up on a pillow.  
A full knee-replacement surgery. At the age of forty-seven he was already officially an old and decrepit man. He would have to spend three weeks at the hospital to recuperate, because, as Dr. Whale had pointed out so bluntly, there was no-one at home to take care of him.  
He’d been here an hour and he was already bored out of his mind. There would be daily physiotherapy sessions, but for the first seven days he wouldn’t be allowed to even leave his bed.

He needed something to do, or else he would lose his mind.

* * *

 

Belle French was pleasantly surprised to find a small package in the mailbox on Monday morning. Enclosed she found a short, poignant note from Mother Superior, informing her that she had found a volunteer who was willing and available to record several audiobooks for the library.  
With a squeak of delight she read the label on the cd that came out of the package. ‘ _Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’_. The book had been on her reading list for weeks now, but she hadn’t yet had the opportunity to start on it.

Biting her lip briefly she looked around the deserted library. It wouldn’t open up until one o’clock and usually she spent Monday morning cataloging. There would be no harm in listening to a novel while she did that, would there?  
Turning on the computer, she slipped the cd-rom in and opened media-player.

Mere seconds later, a warm, male voice filled the library.  
_‘What about a teakettle? What if the spout opened and closed when the steam came out, so it would become a mouth, and it could whistle pretty melodies, or do Shakespeare, or just crack up with me?’_

With a little thrill Belle instantly recognized the accent as being Scottish. The man read slowly and deliberately, carefully pronouncing each and every single syllable, his accent wrapping itself around the words and she found herself becoming enthralled by his voice, the story becoming all the more compelling because of his deep tones.

* * *

 

If anything, reading out loud into a microphone made the time pass marginally quicker and it certainly provided him with an excuse to keep overly cheerful and intruding nurses out of his room.

Just this morning Mother Superior had brought in his latest assignment, only two days after finishing reading his first book. To his surprise she’d brought him a small envelope as well. Inside the envelope was a card that read:

_‘Dear story-teller,_  
_Just dropping you a line to let you know how much I enjoyed your reading of ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’. I’ll freely admit I was a blubbering mess by the time the book was finished. _  
_Please record many, many more books… you have quite the talent for it._  
_Sincerely, Belle F._

If he were honest with himself, he had to admit that it was nice to appreciated for once. He had enjoyed reading the book, especially as the ending had turned out to be nothing like he’d expected. And it was rather gratifying to know that an unknown woman had enjoyed the story too.

Quite impulsively he wrote a few lines back, tucking it into the cd-case once he’d finished reading his second book, somewhat reluctantly hoping that the note would find its way back to her.

* * *

 

The small note folded into the second cd-rom she’d received only days later had come as a complete surprise to her.

_‘Dear Belle,_  
_I’m glad you enjoyed the story. I hadn’t read the book before, so the ending caught me by surprise as well. I hope you’ll enjoy the next book._

_Sincerely,  R.G._

The next book he’d read was one she never would have picked up of her own accord. It was called ‘ _Lies of Silence_ ’ and set against the political war in Ireland during the nineties and the constant thread of the IRA.  
Still, after the first chapter his voice had completely drawn her into the tale.  
Yes, he was Scottish and not Irish, but the hint of roughness in his voice and thickened burr made the story all the more real.

From Mother Superior she learned that her mysterious reader was currently in hospital, recovering from surgery, but that he wished to remain anonymous. It didn’t stop her from sending him another card though.

* * *

 

 By the time he started on his third novel he could freely admit to himself that he read solely for her. Her two cards stood on his bedside table, two colorful spots in an otherwise white room. She’d written a lot more the second time, asking after his recovery and discussing the books he’d read so far. He wondered how it was possible that she was always the first to receive the cd’s.

He could always asked Mother Superior, but in the end he preferred not knowing. If he found out her true identity, he would probably discover that she was one of the many people in Storybooke who held a grudge against him.  
He was fairly sure she would enjoy ‘ _The Remains of the Day_ ’, the novel he was currently reading to her, but he was eager to finish it so he could send her another note. Perhaps he could even ask her for recommendations for his next book.

* * *

 

She’d been a complete and utter idiot. Curled up on the couch in her tiny apartment with tears streaming down her face, there really was no other conclusion than that.  

When he’d asked her for recommendations she’d jumped at the chance to suggest him to read one of her favorite novels: _The Bridges of Madison County_. The sad love story was able to bring her to tears at any given day, but being read to her in his warm, smooth voice, his accent thickening as the story became more passionate left her heart pounding.  
And by the time he read Robert Kincaid’s goodbye letter to Francessca she was outright sobbing.

_‘I remember everything. How you smelled, how you tasted like the summer. The feel of your skin against mine, and the sound of your whispers as I loved you.’_

She felt like he was talking to her. She could almost taste it, the feel of his lips against her ear, his arms around her and his words only for her.  
She had no idea who he was. She only knew his voice, but nevertheless, she ached to know _him_.

* * *

 

He was a fool.

On the day he’d been discharged from the hospital Mother Superior had stopped by to thank him for his volunteering and told him out of the blue that the librarian, Miss French was very grateful for his efforts.

Well, now he knew.

He managed to stay away from the library for a week. By then he had re-read the dozen cards she’d send him during his stay at the hospital about a hundred times and he could no longer stand it. He had to see her at least once.  

So, fool that he was, he limbed into the library on one dreary Friday afternoon.

And stopped dead in his tracks.

Behind the circulation desk was the single most beautiful woman he’d even seen. Rich, brown curls framed her lovely face and big, blue eyes looked at him expectantly.

“Can I help you?” she asked with a bright smile.

And he cringed when he said the most obvious thing he could have possibly said in that moment. “I’m looking for a book to read.”

* * *

 

 Belle froze, her heart stopping for a moment before it started to pound furiously inside her chest.

That voice… it had to be… Heat spread all over her body and she felt herself flushing bright red as her eyes racked over him.

He was… every bit as gorgeous as his voice.

She laughed, nervously, happy, thrilled, everything all at once.  

“I’m sure I can find you something.”

**Author's Note:**

> The books Gold read to Belle were:  
> Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer   
> Lies of Silence by Brian Moore   
> The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro   
> The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller


End file.
